Focus Time for Productivity
This past year has so many people learning how to work from home has taught us a thing or two about our boundaries and work habits. Things like what we are and are unwilling to do and what boundaries we will and will not cross. One thing I have always been steadfast about is my working hours, and I don’t work outside of my established office hours. However, not everyone is as adept at establishing and sticking to those office hours. Throw
in remote working into the mix, and those waters get even muddier.
Google is also recognizing the need for remote workers to make that distinction and has recently made some updates to their Workspace suite of tools to allow that ability. If your Gmail account
is a Google Workspace account, you can set your office hours on your calendar! You can also set your “out of office” hours, whether it’s for a full day or a split day, on your calendar! Here are some of the benefits of being able to set your office hours in your calendar.
Train Your Clients to Respect Your Time You are an independent contractor working for YOU! This means you set your office hours and you work when you want to. (insert the incredible ability to schedule your emails when you’re working at 5:30 am) You are not “on-call” for them during their business hours.
Automatically Decline Meetings Your calendar will automatically decline meetings for you when a request comes in outside of your established office hours. Yes, you read that right! You won’t have to check your calendar and then reply to decline; your calendar will handle that all for you!
If you don’t have a Google Workspace account but are interested in giving it a try, you can use my affiliate link for an extended trial period to give it a test drive. Their basic plan is only $6 a month, and it will open up so many more features and options
for both your email, calendar, and Google Drive!
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Recognizing Burnout: How To Manage The 3 Main Types Of Burnout
Everyone experiences burnout from time to time in life. When you think of burnout, what comes to your mind? Often people describe burnout as the feeling of exhaustion from being too busy. Burnout can be experienced in more ways than being busy and exhausted.
The World Health Organization (WHO) recognizes burnout as a form of work-induced stress. While it’s not classified as a medical condition, it will be included in the 2022 International
Classification of Diseases (ICD) as a reason to contact health services outside of illness or health conditions. Counseling services have been seeing patients for work-induced stress leading to anxiety and depression for quite some time now, which may have led to this development.
Symptoms of Burnout
Typically, burnout is characterized by three symptoms: the feeling of energy depletion or exhaustion, negativity or cynicism concerning your job, and reduced professional efficacy. There are three main types of burnout. Here’s how to identify the type of burnout you are experiencing and tips on how to manage it.
- Burnout by volume. This is the burnout most people are familiar with. When you are constantly booked back-to-back or overloaded with the amount of work you do, then you have very little time or energy left for yourself, leading to feeling completely exhausted. Pro Tip:
Track at least three of your workdays, recording exactly how much time you spend on the various tasks you do. Then, objectively review what you tracked and take a deep look into areas you want to change. You might find you are spending a total of 2 hours on your email inbox or social media. These can be easily delegated to someone else, or you can use Chrome Extensions and other apps to help you be more productive.
- Burnout by boredom. Boredom at work can also lead to burnout if you are not challenged enough or do the same repetitive tasks every day. Sometimes it happens because you have outgrown your job functions and need a change. Pro Tip: If you are bored at work, it’s
important to find areas in your life where you feel challenged. Make a list of what your ideal life would look like in different areas, such as business, life, health, and personal. Choose which area of your life you would like to focus on, and then find changes you can make in your daily routine to meet your goals.
- Burnout by socialization. If you are a people-pleaser, you may relate to this area of burnout because you would rather be uncomfortable than to possibly make someone else feel uncomfortable. You may be a natural giver and struggle with saying “no” to obligations that others put on you, which leads to feeling socially drained. Pro Tip: Create boundaries and learn to get comfortable with saying “no” more often. There are perfectly acceptable ways to turn down other’s demands politely. Let your demanding client or manager know that you may not have the resources to take on as much right now because your workload is unsustainable. Let them know that you are great at what you do, but if they want the type of quality work you put out, they will
need to reduce the quantity.
If you find yourself getting the Sunday night anxiety about what your work week will look like, that’s a sign that you may be experiencing burnout. You could be experiencing exhaustion, pain, nausea, insomnia, and other physical symptoms. You may also find yourself procrastinating, isolating, and escapism used to distract you from your responsibilities. Extreme cases can lead to dangerous lifestyle changes, such as food, alcohol, and
drug use.
It’s important to take care of your mental health just as much as you do with your physical health. Pay attention to burnout and make sure you take time to take care of yourself.
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Learn how you can you can share your calendar with
others so they won't have to ask you when you are busy and when you are free.
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Taking care of your inbox and starting with a clean slate should be the first thing on your To-Do list. Reclaim control of your inbox in only 10 days with my new Detox Your Inbox mini-course.
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